BirdofBahrain

2017-03-27

Time to finally nup date the page

The last few weeks work and pleasure have gone into overload only now do I have time to up date the site. The weather has been the winner this month regardless - to sum up its been cold wet and worse still no change in access it remains - sticky icky on the tracks.

2017-03-26

The hunting technique of an Isabelline Shrike

Some days you see stuff you just cant believe actually happened worse still when you tell somebody they simply say "Oh really"? But and it is a big but, occasionally an event happens right in front of your eyes. The Gods are smiling, you have the camera already, it's pointed in the right direction. CLICK CLICK - So it was this occasion Lucky well yes maybe but the thing was I was there and given the weather I could so easily have stayed in bed. The day was the 10th of March location Buri; 14 seconds and 17 frames later is all over that was need to record what follows -

The hunting technique of an Isabelline Shrike

Ornithologically speaking the event that has stirred up most interest on my twitter feed these last few weeks was my photographic capture of the attempted predation of a Northern Wheatear by a Isabelline Shrike. An attempted ‘kill’ that only failed when the Shrike was momentarily distracted by the passage of a Marsh Harrier overhead and the Wheatear managed to escape, to wriggle free from the Shrikes clutches.

I was zeroing in on the Northern Wheatear when the attack happened, I should point out I was still in my car as the bird was on my side of a track in a field of okra. It was, as is usual in these encounters, staying just ahead of me, moving from bush to bush as I edged forward; distance wise, always the wrong side of too far for that classic close up photograph. Persistence and patience is as always the key, the Wheatear finally dropped to the ground to feed on some bug so I angled the car across the track to get a decent shot. Camera already out the window luckily for me, just as I had focused the Shrike struck. I had at that point not noticed the presence of the Isabelline Shrike myself; on reflection I don’t think the Wheatear had either.

The attack was incredibly fast; it came as if from nowhere. The Shrike struck from the rear landing on the Wheatears back. I just watched clicked away trying to keep the scuffling birds in focus, the car still in gear slowly angling closer by the microsecond. By the time the Wheatear had escaped and disappeared into the depths of the okra and the Shrike had moved to a distant fence line, I was left thinking ‘what the…’ not too certain what I had just witnessed however I did have a good number of usable frames on my camera in a time frame of only 14 seconds. Which on review turned out to be excluding the also-rans, 17 clear, reasonably focused images, which were much better than I dared hoped for, given the circumstance.

I only casually glanced through the images in the field too many other birds a calling to spend too long pondering what was, or what might have been. It was only when I got home and uploaded them to my big apple that the wealth of information and detail of the manner of the attempted ‘Kill” clearly visible on the images became apparent.

So how does a Shrike “Kill” or should we ask how does such a small predatory species take down another bird virtually its own size. On this occasion the key to the Shrikes’ strike was the use of its feet combined with its natural speed, stealth and strength.

To summarize – an extremely fast attack from the rear onto the victims back enabling the Shrike to grab the victim high up on both legs all in the same movement. Clamped onto the femur, the Shrike is then able to spread-eagle the legs causing the victim to collapse to the ground in an instant. With the victim pinned to the floor the Shrike is perfected placed then to attack the neck and throat as they became openly exposed as the victim instinctively turns its head to face and fend of the attacker.

Had the Marsh Harrier not passed over I am certain the outcome would have been in favour of the Shrike and my series of snaps would have run to a few but bloody dozen more.

2017-03-04

A weekend of contrasts weather wise

Friday was a pleasant day no matter which way you look back on it, bright sunny and reasonably calm whereas Saturday was a complete opposite blustery with tremendous thunderstorms, the lightning and rain were at times spectacular.

Bird wise not a lot to report - some early Red-throated Thrush had led me last week to a personal first, a female Black-throated. This week I saw several males in the same area indicating a small influx as has been the case with this species in the past. Some close misses with the camera though had remained the story as earlier in the week - seen observed and no clicks unfortunately as well for a host of migrants and wintering species. But there were some notable exceptions as follows

Crested Honey Buzzard first static images for me of this species

Caspian Plover - turning up in same area of Buri as in past years - they just love manure heaps

Sociable Plover a chance encounter while driving between Jasra and Hamalah

Hypocolius still a lot around here taking cover from the rain but wont be long now however before their departure

Isabelline but a very Brown looking shrike - the white patches are not however consistent with Brown so is it a hybrid ?? or just a dark individual

Isabelline Wheatear taking in and enjoying the early morning rays

Great Black-headed Gull an unexpected overhead visitor while en route to Jarada Island

Channel Marker for entrance to Bahrain deep water sea port with Lesser Created Terns and a pale looking large Gull

Jarada Island a disappointing Friday afternoon trip bird wise it was full of people

Lesser White-throat most probably Desert

Meneteries Warbler this one turned up in my garden in Manama

Nightingale

Pied Wheatear now the most frequently seen Wheatear

Prina or Graceful Warbler

Red-tailed Wheatear - extremely territorial seems to be only tolerant of Mournings

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush enjoying the scenery as the desert blooms after these spring rains

A Thrush SEEN feeding on a road side verge at Amwaj Islands resort but is it Song or is it Thistle

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